Power and its Consequences
by GryffindorGuy
Summary: Albus Potter is about to start his seventh year at Hogwarts, when he notices strange things happening around him. Things that don't usually happen to anyone, wizard or Muggle alike.


bChapter 1: Dreams of Destruction/b

**bChapter 1: Dreams of Destruction/b**

It was yet another night at Mrs. Tonks' house, and Albus Potter was lying on Teddy's old bed, staring up at the ceiling, absentmindedly counting the black dots peppered through the abyss of white. He stared at the digital clock beside his bed … 12:29 … one minute later than the last time he had checked. Where was it? It was supposed to be here half an hour ago. He looked back at the ceiling ... 104 … 105 … 106 … 107 … It had to come tonight. He had given them this address so his parents would not see it and get suspicious, and if he came tomorrow night, when he wouldn't be here ... 108 ... 109 ... 110 ...

A rapping at the window disrupted his counting, and he bounded out of bed, hurtling the window open. A small and extremely timid-looking carrier pigeon winged his way into the bedroom, dropping his huge load on the floor with a loud bang. Without even stopping, the bird made a complete about face and flew out the window again, not looking back.

Without hesitation, Albus hurled himself at the mass of brown paper and ripped it away with total uninhibited abandon. He picked up his brand new Stealth and Secrecy Kit, pre-ordered from Brazil three months earlier. Included were two Invisibility Cloaks, newly improved to fit the wearer to prevent accidental slips. Also inside were several Silent Sneakoscopes, which, when sensing untrustworthy presences, simply vibrated silently instead of producing the head-turning whirring sound of the ones found in Britain. Finally, obscured partially by some packing foam, was a fairly small book, entitled _Secrecy Spells for the Stealthy Sorcerer_. He flipped open the book's cover, and found a small handwritten note on the inside flap. "To hide, tap once and say, 'i_Removium Repelio/i_'."

He chuckled lightly and tapped the book with his wand. 'i_Removium Repelio/i_!" he whispered. Nothing happened. He opened the book to find that it was blank. Blinking bemusedly, he closed the book to find that the cover had become pink and extremely feminine. Unicorns were prancing around the cover, running with the ponies. The words "MY DIARY" were emblazoned at the top in pinks, magentas, and bright yellows. Albus rolled his eyes and tapped the book again, returning it to its original state.

Contented, he repacked his kit into its box, and pushed it under his bed. And Albus Potter, thrilled to shreds about his kit, slept soundly until morning.

He awoke next morning to a light tapping on the bedroom door and the sun glaring at him from the window. "Albus?" came Mrs. Tonks's voice from the other side of the door. Albus stirred in his bed, trying to wake himself up. He ended up stirring too far to the right, and fell off the bed, hitting his head on the corner of the dresser on the way down.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Just getting out of bed," said Albus, massaging his scalp and getting to his feet.

"Well, are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine ... just knocked over the clock …" said Albus.

"Well, all right," she said disbelievingly, "but I just wanted to let you know that I have to go out for a bit. Teddy's here, though, he came for a visit this morning and I completely forgot my scheduled meeting with the Department of International Magical Cooperation. I'm already late as it is. I'll be back in about an hour."

Albus put on his shoes, not realizing that he had slept in his clothes all night. He made his way to the door, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. Halfway down the stairs, he tripped over his own feet and went tumbling down the steps, ending up spread-eagled half on the carpeted living room floor, half on the hardwood kitchen tile. Teddy was nowhere to be seen.

Grumbling, Albus stood up and walked over to the sofa in the living room, collapsing on it and trying to go back to sleep. After a few minutes of irritating insomnia, he finally fell asleep.

Albus was suddenly in a small dark room. He couldn't see his hand in front of his face. Suddenly a shout came from far away, a low, rumbling booming voice. Then a shrill, angry shriek came from behind him. Now a hard punch in the stomach from right in front of him. He doubled over, but he could feel no one standing there. The loud booming voice gave a loud cry, a hideous sound unlike any he had every heard, and he was suddenly shoved to the floor by the apparently invisible person in front of him. Now the two screaming voices came at him at once, berating him furiously in a language Albus had never heard before, nor did he ever want to hear again ... it consisted of guttural grunts and shrieks … The voices came closer and closer to him, getting louder and louder, the unknown fist hitting him harder … harder …

Albus jerked awake, sweating profusely. The room seemed to have gotten ten times hotter. He had never had a dream like that before, nor could he think of how he had come to have it now. He had no idea who the voices could possibly belong to and no one had ever hit him in his life ... except James that once, but it was only a smack in the back of the head...

"Albus?" he heard a familiar voice say. Teddy's head appeared from the hallway. "I've been looking for you."

"I've been here for the past ..." he glanced at the clock. "Half hour... I couldn't find you."

His heart still pumping wildly, he got up to get a glass of water from the kitchen. The room's temperature seemed to have climbed extremely high in the past 30 minutes. He opened the door into the dining room and nearly passed out from the sudden burst of heat. Stricken with a sudden suspicion, he ran into the kitchen, his horrible suspicion confirmed.

The stove had bloomed into flame while he was asleep and had now spread halfway across the counter and had already eaten up two of the cupboards. Albus panicked and whipped out his wand. His mind was drawing a blank. He could not for the life of him remember the spell to put out his fires, so he decided to improvise.

"i_AGUAMENTI/i_!" he screamed at the fire, and a near-tidal wave of water shot out of his wand in a seemingly endless flood. It doused the fire in less than five seconds, leaving the entire kitchen soaking wet. In shock, Albus's legs had locked as had his throat... after a few minutes, he walked over to the stove. None of the burners had been left on. He checked the oven … it hadn't been turned on all day…

"What the …?" said Albus, but before he could finish the phrase with a choice swear word, he was stopped by the creak of the front door opening.

"Teddy? Oh, there you are, Teddy. Where's Albus?" Panicking, Albus did not know what to do, so he took the door into the hall, still listening in at the keyhole. He could hear Mrs. Tonks's voice as she opened to the door to the kitchen, where Teddy had obviously told her that he was. "Well, that certainly didn't take nearly as long as I had expected, they were very …" but Mrs. Tonks had at last seen the remains of her kitchen. Teddy soon came through the door, looking at his watch. "Wow, you are early, it's on…ly…" His voice trailed away as his eyes followed the trail from the missing stove to the charred counter, to the incinerated cupboards.

Utter painstaking silence followed. Still unsure of what do, he raced up the stairs, wand in hand, shutting the door behind him. He gave his wand a quick wave and his Stealth and Secrecy Kit flew out and lay at his feet. With his kit in one hand and his wand in the other, he gave another listen, trying to hear something ... anything ... from downstairs ... and Disapparated.


End file.
